6 BORROWED PLUMES 



starve to death. It follows, then, that in the single 

 spring of 1913, 345,000 white herons were sacrificed in 

 order to bedizen the head-gear of British women, who 

 would forfeit no fraction of their charm (in the eyes of 

 mere men, at least) were they to restrict their purchases 

 in that line to ostrich feathers and the plumage of 

 barn-door fowls. What decoration can be more effec- 

 tive than the cock's-plumes of the Italian Bersaglieri ? 



Lord Avebury had been dead for eight years before 

 the movement which he led bore fruit in the passage 

 of the Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Act, 1921. 

 The title thereof is somewhat misleading: 'Regulation' 

 would denote its scope more accurately than ' Prohibi- 

 tion.' Under this Act the Board of Trade is required 

 to appoint an Advisory Committee to consider all 

 applications for permitting or prohibiting the impor- 

 tation of the plumage of any bird. A committee of 

 ten has been appointed, with the Marquess of Crewe 

 as chairman. It contains three experts in the feather 

 trade, two experts in ornithology, and four other 

 members well- versed in the subject. It may not be 

 all that advocates for total suppression of the traffic 

 desired ; but it is at least satisfactory that the Govern- 

 ment have at length been empowered to take action, 

 and have taken it. 



It is, however, one thing to make a law and another 

 thing to enforce it. Let us hope that our Board of 

 Trade will display as much energy in this matter as 

 the Board of Agriculture have done in the United 

 States. The chief source of supply of ' ospreys ' used to 

 be the breeding colonies of the white heron in the 



